High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Rational basis review asks whether the governmental action at issue is a reasonable means to an end that may be legitimately pursued by government. Stated another way, the standard requires that governmental action be "rationally related" to a "legitimate" government interest Under this standard, the "legitimate" interest does not have to be the government's actual interest in the matter; rather, if the court can merely hypothesize a legitimate state interest served by the challenged action, it will pass constitutional muster.